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#AppreciationPost

Good things happen to those who appreciate.

The only things that make us happy are the things we show appreciation for. It is easier to appreciate a cheque for a million dollars, or an award, or an attractive someone's phone number, but how long does it last?

But, how long does it take before we take those things for granted like we do the oxygen in our lungs, and the wonderful people in our lives? There's no point in listing all that we can be grateful for, if we don't make an effort to focus on gratitude all the time. We can find reasons to appreciate everything that happens to us in life, because everything has a lesson attached to it. This shift of a mindset is not a lightswitch. We don't get to snap our fingers and immediately find the beauty of life from all angles, but we need to find a place to start if we want to get to that point.

I've been around long enough to know that my ability to judge situations/people as good or bad is rarely accurate once things all play out, so I try my best to stop. We have to remember that life isn't happening to us. Life is happening for us. We are life, and right now we get to be part of life in this form, and that won't last forever, so enjoy it while it lasts, appreciate it while it lasts.

Some may want to have more.
Some want to be more.
I have learned how a lot about how people can have so much and still feel like they have so little. A lot of the stuff we want is simply stuff we see other people have, and figure that's the stuff that will make us happy. It might be lambo, a significant other, a lot of followers on social media, or a 6 pack, or to be casted at Walt Disney World (no, just me? Okay).

These are all things on the outside that we hope will make us feel better on the inside, but unfortunately they won't (except Disney - we all need a little more magic in our lives). We all know people who have some or all of these things, and they're still struggling like the rest of us. Of course, those struggles won't be plastered over their social media, social media is here for everyone to pretend their life is better than it really is. But if we're all honest with ourselves, we know that we're all in the same boat, pretending to be better off than we are to gain validation from people we kind of know.

Maybe we can focus on who we are a bit more instead, and ask ourselves, "Why do I want these things? What is the feeling I'm chasing?" Often that feeling is simply feeling valued, or even noticed. If it's a feeling we're looking to have, then outside is the last place we should be looking.

The only time an accomplishment has lived up to how great I thought it'd feel was when that accomplishment was for a project bigger than myself, or when I was doing something only to help others. Instead of trying to have better things to feel like better people, let's just be better people, and not worry about things. Sometimes, the big things are pointless. It is the little things, which add up to big things, that matter.

-  M

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